Self-feeding mail-marking machine.



m. 822.791. PATENTBD JUNE 5, isos.- H; B. mm1. SELF PEBnNQ- MML mail@mamans.

' .1 5. rumanos finan 11:11.21 an s sunken 1 No, 822,791. Y PATENTBDJUNE 5, 1906. H. E. WAITB.

SELF FEBDING MAIL MARKING MAGHlNB..

APPLICATION FILED F .27. 1905.

EB 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2 l VIHATrlTTED JUNE 5, 1906.

.5. s. WAITB. sBLB PERRIN@ MAIL MARKING MAoHmE.

PPLITIOH PIL 27| 1995. Y En FEB 3 SHEETS-HEEFT a, 3f@ 6.

ingxlsla speci cation. i s nwentionv relates UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

HENRY E. Vinfluire, or NEW'1ON,MASSaUHUSETrs. Y SELF-Psaume Mme-MARKING.MAGHIN'E.

m8212391. p Aapplication led Tohru i machines in which the letters areautomatic- Vand having gripping mem ally fed in al faced condition fromthe face of a pack to .the marking devicesfj Its object-is to prorridein a machine of this character a printing-'couple revolvin in fixedbearings A ers timed with the printing. means to present a letter to theprinting device in proper relation to have the stamp canceled and thepostmark appliedy 'and also provide a preliminary feed to separate aletter from the pack and present it into position Where it can e engagedby the griping members which carry the letter toand tlironfgh theprinting-couple.

urtherpbjeot is to provide im roved the postmar "s and.

for controlling the printing device so as to avoid a deposit of mk uponthe impression member of the printi -couple when no letter is present.

y the improvements referred to the greatest ossible efdciency in use anda reduction in t e cost of construction and liability of gettin out oforder are obtained. Y

the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a plan View of animproved machine constructed in accordance with my inmechanism forprintln cancellation-marks an .'venton. Fig. .2 represents a similar,View

. ho der, and the loc 45.

. position.

` v,j showing the; impression member removed. Fig.'

Fig. 3 represents a section on line 3 3 of 1 looking toward the top ofsaid fi re. Fig. 4 represents a sectional view ta en on the same linelooking in the opposite'direction. Fig. 5 re resents a cross-sectiononline V of Fi 3, s owing in lan the printing-digits for the same. Fig.'6 represents asimilar View showing the parts in a somewhat differentposition. Fig. 7 represents a .View similar to Fig. 2 showing thepreliminary feeding-devices in adierent iigs. 2 and 7, showing amodified form of feeder. Y.

The same reference characters indicate the sameparts in all the iigures.

1 represents a table in a compartment 2,

1 Specification ofLettersrPatent. Y

y av, less. seal in. esmas.

Ito mail-marking i Fig. 8 representen View similar to Patented :une 5,i906.

on whichseparated from the rest of thetabe by partitions 3 4 is held apack of. letters in a Ywardthe partition 4. The partitonsare arrangedconvergently, and between their'ad- 4be called impression-surfaces. poneach of the arms 1 1 is mounted a feeding member or pper 14, which isadapted toV cooperate member, to grasp. a letter and carry it intoposition to receive a depositof ink from a printing-die carried by theroll 6, the parts la V15 printing-roll and arms constitutcaprintingcourpllo Y r Y e 11n Yression member and roll ore gearedtogether 'y means of spur-gears lo 17, careause the grippers, printinmember, and im. pression mem er to revo ve synchronously, vssrherebjrthe grippers are timed to present a letter in roper relation to theprintingcouple. he impression-arms 11 are adapted to yield to permit thepassage of thick letters and for thatV purpose are pirotallyV mountedupon the disk '10 by the ivots 18 being projected outwardly yielding yby the springs 19, connected one to each of the arms and to a lixedabutment on the disk. Sto s j* 2G limit the outward throw of the arms.Tlrie gripper i5 is also yieldingly mounted,v being pivotally connectedat 21 .to tire printingletter-engaging portion.

ber botli'se aratesa letter from the pack and carries the etterV throughthe printing members are found'to be objectionable because of thedifficulty of' separating a single letter, Vthe liability of carryingmore than one letter at a time, end failure to accurately time thickletters th'i'on vl1 the printing-couple. Paper of very many ifferentqualities is used jacent ortivons is left an openin V5, throughV wit agripper i5, carriedl by the printing' ried oy the shafts 8 and 9,respectively, which faced condition, with theirbaoks directed to Jpivoted toit arms ,11, of which a portion o each is curved on a circularare, the outer sui Vfaces 12 of which act to press the letters againstthe` printing-roll 6 and Vma 'thereforeVV constituting cooperatinggrippors, while the rollend actuated bya spriing 22 to project itsMachines by which a single feeding memi IDO in the manufacture ofenvelope, and the fricbv are moved outward tion with which they engagethe other letters of the pack varies greatly, and it has been found thata feeder having a frictional surface which engages a letter having asmooth surface with sufficient force to separate it from the pack isliable when it encounters letters with rough surfaces to draw off anumber at once or sli and fail to feed. Where a positive instea of afrjctional feed is employed, this danger is eliminated to a greatextent; but a greater objection is substituted, in that there isliability of tearing a letter when the resistance between it and thepack or the printin member is. very great. t is Well known tV at thickletters cannot readily enter members of a printing-couple against therinting-pressure of from ten to thirty poun s, which is necessary toovercome inequalities like folds or fiaps in the letters or envelo s inorder to print a clear impression. VEit er the preliminary feeder or theprinting members must slip on the letters to prevent tearing or theletters must be forced throu h by hand. In order to overcome these ojections, I have provided a primary or preliminary feeder which isadapted to engage a letter and se arate it a slight distance from thepack wit as little friction as possible, moving it to a predeterminedpoint, where it leaves it in position to be engaged by the grippers andcarried on into the printingcouple. In the preferred form thispreliminary feeder consists of a bar 23, mounted to rotate with the disk10, there being as many of the bars 23 carried by the disk as there areimpression-arms 11. These bars are mounted radially of the disk and arearranged to be projected and retracted by a fixed cam-slot 24 in thetable, the inner and outer sides of which slot alternately project andretract the bars by acting on trundlerolls 25, carried by the bars andprojecting into the slot. The latter is so arranged that as the diskturns to bring a bar near the letterpack, the bar is projected and4caused to enga e the nearest-letter and move the same asort distanceuntil its end engages a pivoted stop 26, whereupon the bar is suddenlyretracted. Each of these bars is provided at its end with a frictionalmember 27, such as a strip of rubber. j

A modified form of preliminary feeder is shown in Fig. 8, where thefrictional feeding -members or tongues 27 are mounted upon pivoted arms28, which are normally held retracted by springs 29fagainst stops 30,all being carried by the disk l() on its under side and so beingmovable, but which when brought adjacent the' letter-pack engage in turnaxed roll or Vbeneath the disk,

which their free ends so that the frictionengage the letters. Bythe timepieces 27 have been moved far enough to enthe letters studl 31, held onthe table i starmi gage the stop the endsof the arms have` passed overIlle ,member 31 and are then suddenly retracted by the springs. By thusretracting the feeder danger o its coming into contact with 'theprinting-roll or tearing the letter while the same 1s yengaged by thetiming-stop is avoided. After a letter has been left in con tact withthe stop 26 by a preliminary feeder it is engaged by the next succeedinggrip er 14, which engages the letter on one si e at the same time thatthe gripper 15 engages it on the other and also simultaneously strikesthe stop and moves it .about its pivot against the resistance oi sprin32 to clear the letter. It will be seen that gy having the preliminaryfeeder which separates the end of a letter a short distance from thepack and moves it into such a position that coacting grippers may engageopposite sides of the letter a more positive secondary feed for carryingthe letter to the printing-couple is provided, while at the same timethe necessity of having the gri per 14 separate the let?` er from thepack, an so perform this additional work, is avoided. The danger ofcarry'ng more than one letter to the printing member is also greatlyreduced. Itis well known that with all machines for feeding mail-metter(the present included) under the vari(` is conditions of letter-mail notonly feedeis'but even grippers sometimes slip on a letter and fail tocarry it past I the timing-Stop7 which holds ituntil with the presentmachine the preliminary feeder 27 in I lts next round or the next feedercomes in if in this contingency the i feeder were caused to remain inclose frietional contact with the letter while the timing-stop engagesand prevents its forward movement, the letter would be eithercrumcontact with it.

pled or torn. 1l'. however, the stop 26 instead of the feeder wereWithdrawn to prevent tearing the letter when the grippers slip and thenext feeder passes the stop, then there I would be no timing of theletter into the printing device and theK object for which the I stop 26is prox ided would be defeated.

Therefore it may he seen that the novelt and importance of my invent-ionin the with rawi ing of the preliminary feeder consists in prei ventingthe 1rumpling or tearing of letters at the top by the next feeder shouldthe gripi ers slip as well as in allowiner the frictionl eeder to passthe printing-roll on the same l level without coming into contacttherewith. If the grippers were removed from the machine, the firstleiter fed to the stop would f remain there locked with the pack a ainst5 further action of f ie feedyerawhich wou d slip and withdraw, forwhen'A the feeders 2? first engage the letter, being gthen projected,the Y are opposite the pack, which yields and alii lows the feeders toslip over the letters. Then by the time the feedersreaehed theprojecting IIO 7. In ii mail-marking machine, a printingr member and animpression member having letter-'feeder adapted to feed a letter from apack to, and leave the saine at, a. predetermined point out of contactwith the printing and impression members, a gripper adapted to engagethe letter at said predetermined point and feed the same past theprintingr member, and :in impression-surface in the.

same horizontal zone with the letter-feeder cooperating With theprinting member.

In ii mail-marking machine, a printing member, sind in impression memberhaving :i letter-feeder adapted to feed ii letter from a. pack, atiming-stop located in the path of motion of the letter so fed adaptedto arrest the same, e rotarygrippcr arranged to engage the letter andmove it pest the stop and the printing member, and an impression-surfacecooperating with the printinOr member.

9. ln a mail-marking machine, a printing member and an impression memberconnected to rotate in svnchronisni and to cooperate in marking :iletter constituting ii printingcouple, grippeis adapted to engage aletter and feed the same to and through said printnig-couple, a stoparraiigeil to lioldii` letter in position to be engaged by said grippersin properly-timed relation with the printingcoiiple, and a prelimiiiaiTfeeder on the iinpression member arranged to feed a letter from 'a packto said stop and to withdraw and lciive the same in engagementtherewith.

10. ln a inail-marking machine, printing mechanism including animpression member, griplgiers adapted to grasp and feed a letter to saidprinting mechanism and timed therewith to present the letter in propermarking relation thereto, a single feeding member on the impressionmember of the printing mechanism for engaging and feeding a letter froma pack into position to be engaged by said grip eis and \\'itlidia\vingfrom contact with the etter, and ai timing-stoii arranged to arrest theletter engaged bv said feeding means and hold the saine until taken b vthe giipadapted to engage the opposite sides of a lettei'simultaneously, and :i single feeding ineinber on the impression memberfor advancing to engage and carryY a letter fi'oiii a pzick intoposition to be grasped by seid giippers, and

. member, an impression member cooperating then withdrawing fromengagement with the letter, leaving the letter ont of contact with theprinting member.

path of motion of the letter and adapted to arrest the saine in suchposition.

i3, In email-marking machine having a printing member and a rotatableimpression member, ar timing-stop, a. letter-feeder adapted to separatea letter from a pack and feed the seme forward leaving it out ofcont'sct with the printingr and impression members, eoi'nprising an armcarried by said impression member having fin engaging surface, and meansfor alternately projelating and retraeting said erm to engage andrelease the letter.

14. ln a inail-marking machine having a printingr member and a rotatableimpression member, a timing-stop, a letter-feeder adapted to separate a.letter from a pack and feed the same forward leaving it out of Contactwith the printing and impression members, comprising en erin carried bysaid impression member having a frictional letter-engaging surfin e, andineens for alternately projecting and retrecting said arm to engage andrelease the letter.

15. In a mail-marking machine, a printing member, fi member having animpression-surface cooperating therewith to constitute a printingcouple, a feeder on said impression member adapted to feed a letter fromthe face of a pack, a stop for arresting the letter, means forwithdrawing the feeder from the letter as soon as the same is eiigaga.by the stop, and ti secondary feeder ada ti-d to release the letter fromthe stop an f'ied it to the printing-couple.

16. In a mail-marking machine, s printing member, an impression membercofi erating therewith, a die eccentrieall)T pivoti don said printingmember, positive means lor advancing the die toward the letter-engagingportion of the printing member, and means for retracting the die when-no letter is present to avoid a` deposit of ink on the impressionmember.

17. In a inail-marking machine, a printing member, an impression membercooperating therewith, a die'eccentrically and pivotally mounted on theprinting member, positive means for advancing the die toward the let-12. lii a mail-marking machine, a printing l member, on impressionmember, grippers adapted to engage the opposite sides ol' ii lettersimultaneously, a single feeding member on the impression member foradvancing a le' tei' from :i pack into position to be grasped by seid"rippeis, :1nd :i stop located in lli(` ter-engaging portion oftheprinting member, lvielding means tending to retract the die, and eletter-operated lock for holding the die in its advanced operativeposition,

18, 1n a inail-marking machine, a printing therewith, a` dieeccentrically and pivotally mounted on the printing member, positivemeans for advancing the die toward the letter-engaging portion of theprinting member, yielding means tending to retract the die, slocking-dog adapted to engage and lock the die in its advancedposition'when a letter is presented, sind letter-actuated means foroperating said dog.

ICO

IIO

19. In a ma-marking machine, e, printingcouple comprising a. pair ofmembers, que. bearing and operating in successlon a etter- In testimonywhereof I haveaxed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY EQWAITE.

